Today's attack took place in the Nad Ali district in Helmand, Afghan provincial and military officials told TOLONews. The Afghan soldier "opened fire during a verbal clash," the news agency reported. The British troops returned fire and wounded the Afghan soldier.

The International Security Assistance Force confirmed the attack but would not release the nationality of the soldier who was killed.

"An International Security Assistance Force service member died when an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against ISAF service members in southern Afghanistan today," the ISAF press release stated. "The incident is currently under investigation. It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities."

The insider attack in Helmand is the second of its kind in the past two days. Yesterday, two Afghan soldiers opened fire on Spanish troops belonging to the Badghis Provincial Reconstruction Team. One Spanish soldier was wounded in the attack, and the two Afghan soldiers were detained. The Taliban have not taken credit for the Badghis attack, but did mention the incident on their propaganda website, Voice of Jihad.

[An Nahar] A mother and her newborn baby were among six family members killed in a roadside kabooming in eastern Afghanistan overnight, police and witnesses said Sunday.

The victims were heading home from the hospital after the mother had given birth when the bomb planted by Taliban Death Eaters tore through their vehicle in Khost province... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... on the Pakistain border, police said.

Relatives said the family was returning home after the mother delivered her baby in hospital in the town of Sabari.

Five other non-combatants were killed in two separate roadside kaboom blasts in the southern province of Kandahar Sunday, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...'s office said in a statement offering condolences to the families of all those killed.

[Shabelle] Æthiopian forces in Somalia reportedly attacked on several military bases belonging to Al shabab hard boyz in Bay region of southern Somalia, as they seek to open up the road from the Baidoa to the capital.

The attack took place late on Saturday and continued till last night at Gofgadud area, where Æthiopian forces targeted Al shabab, causing bitter festivities between both sides, according to the local residents.

It was immediately unclear to get further details on the casualty following the combat as both officials from Al shabab and Æthiopian forces unavailable to reach on the phone for comments.

The latest reports indicated that the situation in the conflict zone is calm and the local residents resumed their daily activities and things returned up and running.

Eyewitnesses said the violence sparked when government soldiers exchanged gun-fire at KM4 junction, a busy crossroad in the heart of Mogadishu, accusing unconfirmed losses. The skirmish caused over unknown circumstances.

An Egyptian jihad leader, with self-professed links to the Taliban, called for the "destruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt," drawing ties between the Egyptian relics and Buddha statues, local media reported this week.

Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such "idols."

"All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues," he said on Saturday during a television interview on an Egyptian private channel, widely watched by Egyptian and Arab audiences.

"God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols," he added. "When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do."

So he's the one! We can hang him for that too...

But in retaliation to Gohary's remarks, the vice president of Tunisia's Ennahda party, Sheikh Abdel Fattah Moro, called the live program and told Gohary that famous historic military commander Amr ibn al-Aas did not destroy statues when he conquered Egypt.

Only because they didn't have dynamite in those days...

"So who are you to do it?" he wondered. "The Prophet destroyed the idols because people worshiped them, but the Sphinx and the Pyramids are not worshiped."

Gohary, 50, is well-known in Egypt for his advocacy of violence, Egypt Independent reported.

So he's especially pious...

"He was sentenced twice, one of the two sentences being life imprisonment.

Worked well...

He subsequently fled Egypt to Afghanistan, where he was badly injured in the American invasion. In 2007, he traveled from Pakistan to Syria, which then handed him over to Egypt. After Mubarak's fall in early 2011, he was released from prison by a judicial ruling," the newspaper added.

Next time just shoot him...

In recent months, fears have surfaced that the ultra-conservative Salafi political powers may soon wish to debate new guidelines over Egyptian antiquities.

Islamists have swept the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in the country's post-revolutionary stage, with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists rising to political power.

"The fundamental Salafis have demanded to cover Pharaonic statues, because they regard them to be idols," Egyptian author on ancient history Ahmed Osman told Al Arabiya English, explaining that Salafi Muslims follow conservative religious principles which view statues and sculptures as prohibited in Islam.

"But so far the government has done nothing to indicate what is the future of Egyptian antiquities," adds Osman.

Over the past few days, Egyptian authorities have reportedly arrested a number of wanted jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula.

On Wednesday, Egyptian authorities arrested three jihadists, one of whom was reportedly in the possession of an Egyptian military uniform, according to Ma'an News Agency. On Friday, Egyptian officials announced that "a well-known leader in a Jihadist organization," Mohammad Abdullah Abed al Rahman, was arrested on Wednesday. It is unclear if his arrest occurred during a separate raid.

On Thursday, Ahmed Allam el Hefny, a wanted jihadist, was arrested in the town of Sheikh Zuweyid near the city of el-Arish in northern Sinai. El Hefny was wanted in connection with "a June 2011 attack on el-Arish's main police station and a bank," according to the Associated Press. In September, he was convicted in absentia; he will now be retried, however.

The brother of Ahmed el Hefny, Kamal el Hefny, has threatened to kidnap Egyptian policemen and army officers if his brother is not released. In addition, he reportedly "phoned a police station in el-Arish and threatened to bomb administration headquarters."

Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities have denied Arabic press reports that alleged that 20 jihadists fleeing to Gaza through a border tunnel and in possession of 30 automatic weapons, 3 RPGs, 5,000 rounds of ammunition, and a photo of Osama bin Laden, had been arrested. Officials have also denied that President Mohamed Morsy recently received a list of 7,000 suspected al Qaeda militants in Sinai and that a Palestinian was arrested carrying a handwritten letter from al Qaeda's Ayman al Zawahiri to jihadists in the Sinai.

[Al Ahram] An unknown gang fired at the Central Security Forces camp in the Ahrash district in Rafah, North Sinai on Sunday.
According to the Ahram Arabic news website, the attackers fled when the police fired back. However,a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... no casualties were reported.

The attackers were reportedly masked and drove a van equipped with machine-guns on its roof.

The Sinai Peninsula, a largely desert area bordering Israel, has been the site of several attacks by unknown assailants.

[An Nahar] Gunmen have killed a policeman and maimed another in a raid on a cop shoppe in a town in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state, a police officer said on Sunday, the latest violence in the volatile region.

The gunnies launched the attack late Saturday in the town of Itas, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) from the state capital Bauchi, hurling explosives into the cop shoppe and opening fire on coppers, leading to an hour-long shootout.

"The gunnies threw explosives into the cop shoppe, setting it on fire," and killing a police inspector inside the building at the time, said the police officer who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the incident.

Another policeman was maimed in the shootout and two nearby police homes were burnt.

Bauchi state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan confirmed the attack but said he had no details yet.

It was not clear who was behind the incident but Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Islamists have been blamed for series of attacks on cop shoppes and banks in the area although criminal gangs have also carried out similar raids under the guise of the sect.

[Yemen Post] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™â¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ...militias attempt to take control on Midi port located in Hajja governorate, local sources have affirmed, pointing out that armed fighters constantly go to coasts of the port at nights and depart at days.

Local sources said that four armed vehicles of the Houth arrived to the area, reiterating that they strongly seek to capture the port.

The Houthi group could take control on Saada governorate in 2011 after protests broke out against the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... across Yemen.

It sought to capture Hajja and Amran, but it failed after it was faced with vivid resistance by rustics.

Media sources affirmed that t he absence of security forces at Midi made the Houthi seek to put it hand on its port.

The local sources indicated that Houthi fighters receive training nearby the port, emphasizing that the militia warn locals of approaching to some locations.

According to tribal sources, the Houthi group has set up three training camps in Saada and Amran, pointing out that it receives weapons from Iran and Leb.

The sources added that the group operates to recruit fighters, particularly children, from Saada, Sana'a, Hajja and al-Jawaf governorates and train them at different fighting ways .

Yemeni analysts accuse Iran of supporting the Houthi group with funds and weapons and seeking to create a proxy group in Yemen after it loses Al-Assad regime in Syria.

The US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein had frequently cautioned against Iranian intervention in Yemen, indicating that Iran seeks to spark troubles in Yemen through supporting the Saada-based Houthi group

[Al Ahram] A Bahraini court on Sunday sentenced 19 Shiites to five years each in jail for the "attempted murder" of policemen during unrest which swept the Gulf state in 2011, lawyers said. They were found guilty of setting an ambush for police and attacking them with Molotov cocktails during demonstrations last December 23-30 in the Shiite village of Nuidrat near the Gulf state's capital Manama. Nine other defendants were acquitted.

[Bangla Daily Star] Police have juggedPlease don't kill me! 42 activists of Jamaat-e-Islami...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and Islami Chhatra Shibir... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... in the last two days across the country on charges of creating chaos and attacking law enforcers.

Ten activists were nabbed in Chapainawabganj, eight in Naogaon, nine in Chandpur and 15 in Jessore.

The nine Chandpur activists, jugged on Saturday night, were sent to jail yesterday.

The activists, who were cooled in Chapainawabganj and Naogaon, were planning acts of sabotage, said Chapainawabganj police.

Meanwhile,...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim had found another sucker... Jamaat and Shibir have called a dawn-to-dusk hartal... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in Joypurhat today following the death of Shibir activist Badiuzzaman. He was hit by a bullet during a clash with police in the capital on November 5.

Badiuzzaman, 22, was from Joypurhat. He died at Islami Bank Central Hospital in the capital on Saturday morning.

Besides, 27 Jamaat men, including Panchagarh district nayeb-e-ameer and sadar upazila Chairman Abdul Khalek, have been sent to jail in a case filed for beating Chhatra League... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... and Jubo League... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... activists.

In Noakhali, 26 Jammat leaders and activists were placed on one day's remand yesterday. Chief Judicial Magistrate SM Zakir Hasan passed the order following a remand prayer from police, reports our Noakhali correspondent.

Habiganj unit of Bangladesh Chhatra league brought out a procession in the district town yesterday, protesting against a threat to kill its district President Mostafa Kamal Azad. BCL alleged Shibir's Sylhet district President Khalilur Rahman made the death threat by phone on Friday.

Our RU correspondent said BCL activists allegedly beat and ousted eight students from the Madar Baksh Hall of Rajshahi University on Saturday night, suspecting their links with Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Mexican Army units nationwide have seized 669 kilograms of marijuana, 10 kilograms of hashish and MX $19,468.00 (USD $1474.90) in cash since October 28th, according to official Mexican government information.

A Mexican Army unit with the 4th Military Zone in Sonora state located illegal contraband aboard a truck from Querétaro state October 28th. The unit had established a checkpoint on Kilometer 17 of the Nogales to Hermosillo, Sonora highway and stopped a truck. Inside soldiers found 490,000 cigars packaged in 49 cardboard boxes. The driver was detained at the scene.

An army unit with the 45th Mexican military Zone found a quantity of hashish in Sonora state October 29th. The unit had been on patrol near ejido Desierto de Sonora when soldiers found 10 kilograms of hashish, one rifle and one fragmentation grenade.

An army unit with the Mexican 4th Military Zone located a quantity of weapons and munitions in Sonora state October 30th. The unit had been dispatched to the area based on an anonymous complaint about armed suspects near a ranch near the village of Santa Rosa in Navojoa municipality. Soldiers seized 10 rifles, 17 weapons magazines, 172 rounds of ammunition and one fragmentation grenade.

A Mexican Army road patrol from the 4th Military Zone seized quantities of weapons in Sonora state October 30th. The unit had been on patrol on Mexico Federal Highway 16 between Yecora and Maycoba in Yecora municipality when it stopped three unidentified individuals travelling aboard three vehicles. Soldiers seized two rifles, 10 weapons magazines, 225 rounds of ammunition and three vehicles.

A Mexican Army unit with the 7th Military Zone along with state and local civilian police conducted a raid in Nuevo Leon state October 30th, seizing weapons and detaining suspects. The raid took place in Santa Catarina municipality where authorities seized six rifles, 1,083 rounds of ammunition, 35 weapons magazines, eight vehicles and tactical gear. Nine unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized a quantity of diesel fuel in Tamaulipas state October 29th. Found in Ciudad Madero municipality, the total amounted to 124,000 liters. Soldiers also seized three tractors and four tankers.

A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Tamaulipas state October 30th. Armed suspects had attacked the military unit which was on patrol in Nuevo Laredo municipality. Soldiers returned fire, killing one unidentified armed suspect. Weapons seized included one rifle, one weapons magazine and 15 rounds of ammunition.

An army unit with the Mexican 9th Military Zone located a quantity of fuel in Sinaloa state October 30th. The unit was on a road patrol in the sindicatura Villa Adolfo Lopez Mateos of Culican municipality when soldiers found 5,500 liters of gasoline and 11 trucks capable of transporting fuel.

A Mexican Army road patrol with the 8th Military Zone located and rescued five unidentified individuals who had been kidnapped in Tamaulipas state October 30th. The victims were found inside a vehicle between the villages of Villa de Casas and La Lajilla, near Ciudad Victoria. Military uniforms and five rifles were also found at the scene.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Tamaulipas state October 30th. The unit was on patrol in Obrera colony in Matamoros municipality when it came under small arms fire. Army return fire killed two unidentified armed suspects. After the gunfight, soldiers seized two rifles, four weapons magazines, 32 rounds of ammunition and one vehicle.

A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone located a quantity of marijuana in Tamaulipas state October 30th. The drugs were found in an abandoned vehicle in a remote area in Camargo municipality. A total of 663 kilograms of marijuana was seized.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone located weapons and munitions in Tamaulipas state October 30th. The unit was on patrol near the village of Puentecitos in Camargo municipality when the discovery was made. Seized contraband included four rifles, three handguns, two grenade launchers, two grenades, four weapons magazines and 391 rounds of ammunition.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Tamaulipas state October 30th. The incident took place in Alberto Carrera Torres colony in Matamoros municipality, where an army road patrol came under small arms fire. Army return fire killed one unidentified armed suspect. Two rifles and one vehicle were seized at the conclusion of the gunfight.

A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized quantities of weapons and munitions in Tamaulipas state November 2nd. The unit was on patrol on Centro colony in Ciudad Miguel Aleman when it came upon an abandoned vehicle. Inside soldiers found six rifles, two grenades, 1,230 rounds of ammunition, 68 weapons magazines, 53 stars (for puncturing automobile tires) and other contraband.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone rescued two unidentified kidnapping victims in Tamaulipas state November 2nd. The unit rolled up on a vehicle with two suspects inside in Infonavit Cañada colony in Tampico municipality. Soldiers found MX $19,468.00 (USD $1474.90) in cash, radio equipment and documents and a vehicle. The suspects were detained at the scene.

A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone raided a camp presumably used by narcotraffickers in Tamaulipas state November 3rd. The raid was conducted in ejido Paso Real in San Fernando municipality, where soldiers seized nine rifles, four handguns, six grenades, one grenade launcher, 2,296 rounds of ammunition, 60 weapons magazines, nine kilograms of marijuana, quantities of other drugs, one vehicle and 28 radios.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Tamaulipas state November 3rd. The encounter took place in Victoria colony of Matamoros municipality, where the military unit came under small arms fire. Army counterfire killed two unidentified armed suspects. Soldiers also seized two rifles, 143 rounds of ammunition, four weapons magazines, one vehicle and other equipment including radios.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com.

The imam of a village in Dagestan was gunned down in his own backyard in the village of Khadzhalmakhi on Sunday. The assailants pelted Gadzhi Aliyev with gunshots, killing him on the spot. They then fled the scene, leaving numerous cartridge shells from Kalashnikov assault rifles and Makarov handguns.

[Dawn] The house of a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) was damaged in a blast at Tarnab Farm area on the outskirts of provincial metropolis here on Saturday.

An official of Chamkani cop shoppe said that the bomb was planted near the residence of JI leader and former MNA Sabir Awan that went kaboom! with a big bang and damaged the rear portion of his house.

Quoting the personnel of bomb disposal squad, the official said that the bomb was packed in a canister and it weighed about 200 grams. It was a locally made bomb that was went kaboom! through remote, he added.

We have started search operation in the area and trying to get any clue about the people involved in the terrorist act, said Azam Khan, in-charge of Tarnab Farm police post. He said that police reached the site soon after the blast but no one was placed in durance vileYouse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in that connection.

[Dawn] Seven suspected persons were placed in durance vileDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! and arms seized from their possession in a joint raid conducted by the security forces and the police in Zaffarabad Colony of Dera Ismail Khan... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... on Saturday.

The arrested persons were shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation. The search was conducted on the directives of the District Police Officer, Dera Ismail Khan, Suhail Khalid. The security personnel also recovered weapons from the possession of the suspected persons.

[Dawn] At least nine people have been killed and several others injured in Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in a fresh spate of violence on Sunday, a day after 20 people bit the dust in similar incidents in the port city, DawnNews reported.

Unidentified gunnies on cycle of violences shot up an automobile workshop in Bloody Karachi's Orangi Town area, killing three people -- a father and his two sons -- on the spot.

Another man was bumped off in the city SITE industrial area, while a a perforated carcass was found early Sunday from Meethadar's Sarafa Market area.

Three people were killed in firing incidents near Martin Quarters and Soldier Bazaar. Unknown Orcs and similar vermin opened fire in Manghopir, killing one person.

Meanwhile,...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... a clash between two rival gangnull>s left eight people maimed, including a news hound for a local television channel and an ambulance driver. The incident happened near the Edhi centre in restive Sohrab Goth area of the city.

Sunday's bloodshed followed in the wake of one of the city's deadliest days in the recent past, with at least 20 killed -- almost half of them victims of sectarian killings -- on Saturday.

The deadliest episode occurred when six students of the 'Madressah Ahsan-ul-Uloom' seminary -- all in their early 20s --were bumped off by at least six men in an armed attack on a roadside tea shop in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. Among other deadly incidents, a worker of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat was also bumped off in North Nazimabad.

"On the face of it, there is no other reason than tit-for-tat killing on sectarian grounds," DIG east Shahid Hayat told Dawn on Saturday, when asked about the suspected motive behind the day's killings. "Unless other aspect is proved, we believe there is sectarianism behind the recent killings carried out in different parts of Bloody Karachi."

It was unclear whether Sunday's killings were also linked to the recent wave of sectarian bloodshed.

President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... has taken notice of the deteriorating situation in Bloody Karachi

Whoa! That is truly astute of him!

and has ordered law enforcement agencies to take action.

In various areas of Bloody Karachi police and rangers have now started carrying out search operations.

Two extortionists were enjugged... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in Quaidabad, DawnNews reported. Rangers have arrested the head of a terrorist group in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Four other people have been arrested in Qayyumabad and North Nazimabad after rangers carried out a search operation.

Two people were arrested in Machar colony, while nine suspects have been arrested in Sohrab Goth.

[An Nahar] Iraqi authorities executed 10 men on Sunday, a spokesman said, bringing to 129 the number of people put to death this year, defying international calls for a halt to Baghdad's use of capital punishment.

The mass executions were the first in around a month in Iraq, which has been roundly condemned by European governments and international human rights organizations for its use of the death penalty.

"Ten people were executed, including one Egyptian," a justice ministry official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They were accused of terrorist crimes."

The official did not provide further details about the men, or the specific crimes of which they were convicted.

Executions in Iraq are normally carried out by hanging.

Rope is cheap, and they've got quite quite a collection of bad guys after all these years.

#1
If Israel had just complied with Obummer's request directive to roll back Israeli borders to pre-1967 borders they just wouldn't have to worry about shelling the Golan Heights when fired upon (sarc on). As the saying goes "With friends like this, who needs enemies?"

A Grad rocket landed in the yard of a house in the southern city of Netivot Monday morning. No one was injured, but the kaboom caused damage to the building and its surroundings, leading to power outages in parts of the city. Twenty six people were treated for shock.

The rocket fire came after roughly eight hours of calm amid reports of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after two days in which more than 140 rockets and mortars were fired on Israel's south by Gazoo terrorists.

Netivot Mayor Yehiel Zohar said that only schools that have proper bomb shelters would be opened in the city.

Six additional rockets were fired towards the Hof Ashkelon and Eshkol regions. Four landed in open unpopulated areas, causing no injuries or damage, the other two were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Eshkol regional Council head Haim Yalin said that one rocket was too much and demanded that the government take action to end the violence. He said it wasn't up to him to offer solutions, but noted that Israel had two options, either to hit a decisive strike that will convince the faceless myrmidons to put down their arms, or reach a diplomatic solution with Gazoo's rulers.

Of course, Hamas won't accept anything more than a hudna, so that's not an option...

"I expect any government to take measures, no matter which party wins the elections," Yalin said..

A Grad rocket landed in the yard of a house in the southern city of Netivot Monday morning. No one was injured, but the kaboom caused damage to the building and its surroundings, leading to power outages in parts of the city. Twenty six people were treated for shock.

The rocket fire came after roughly eight hours of calm amid reports of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after two days in which more than 140 rockets and mortars were fired on Israel's south by Gazoo terrorists

The rocket fire came after roughly eight hours of calm amid reports of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after two days in which more than 140 rockets and mortars were fired on Israel's south by Gazoo terrorists.

Netivot Mayor Yehiel Zohar said that only schools that have proper bomb shelters would be opened in the city.

Six additional rockets were fired towards the Hof Ashkelon and Eshkol regions. Four landed in open unpopulated areas, causing no injuries or damage, the other two were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Eshkol regional Council head Haim Yalin said that one rocket was too much and demanded that the government take action to end the violence. He said it wasn't up to him to offer solutions, but noted that Israel had two options, either to hit a decisive strike that will convince the faceless myrmidons to put down their arms, or reach a diplomatic solution with Gazoo's rulers.

The latter is not possible.

"I expect any government to take measures, no matter which party wins the elections," Yalin said.

Overnight, the Israeli Air Force struck three terror targets in the Gazoo Strip. According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the IAF achieved direct hits at a terrorist tunnel and a weapons storage site in northern Gazoo, as well as a rocket-launching site in the southern part of the Strip.

On Sunday evening, a Kassam rocket hit a house in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. The family inside the house had taken cover in a secure space and was unharmed, however the building itself was severely damaged.

Another rocket from the Strip hit a building in Shaar Hanegev. Four Israelis were maimed in the two-day barrage.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak made clear Sunday that Israel would not hesitate to reenter Gazoo: "If we are forced to go back into Gazoo in order to deal Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, a [serious] blow and restore security for all of Israel's citizens, then we will not hesitate to do so," he said.

Except they are not yet ready to go to war, and no doubt someone from America is murmuring about the inadvisability of kinetic action at this time.

Schools in other communities surrounding the Gazoo Strip were scheduled to reopen Monday, after having been closed due to rocket fire on Sunday.

#1
Twenty six people were treated for shock.
I see this reported often in the Israeli press, I assume is it's not shock as in trauma, but shock in the sense of scared witless for a bit (I know I would be). Sounds better than hysteria, but there's gotta be a more accurate term.

Two Thai school teachers whose car was attacked by gunmen reacted by ramming their motorcycle, forcing them off the road, and then fleeing to get help and medical attention.

Yeehaw! Ride 'em down, cowboys!

Last Friday morning, security officials received a report of an attack on a couple of teachers on a local road in Pattani province. A joint police, military and civilian force was sent to the scene to investigate. There they found a motorcycle abandoned by the attackers laying in trees on the roadside, but no sign of the riders.

About 500 meters away the victims' car was parked with three bullet holes in the driver's-side windows and another in the front windshield. They later learned that the car was driven by Sukij Ritdej with Wanphen Chankaew as the passenger. Both are teachers at a nearby school.

The teachers were heading to the school when their car was suddenly cut off by two gunmen on a motorcycle who opened fire on them with pistols. Ms Wanphen was hit in the body and left arm. Instead of stopping, the driver stepped on the gas and drove into the attackers' motorcycle, forcing it off the road into the trees. They then sped to the school and sought help from their colleagues.

The security force surrounded the area to hunt for the gunmen, thinking that they were likely injured by the car's impact and would not get far.

[An Nahar] Three people were killed and at least four others were maimed on Sunday in an armed clash between supporters of Hizbullah and Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the Taamir Ain al-Hilweh neighborhood in the southern city of Sidon, state-run National News Agency reported.

Among the dead was one of Asir's bodyguards whom NNA identified by his nickname Lobnan al-Ezz.

The clash also killed Lebanese national Ali Samhoun and Egyptian citizen Ali al-Sharaband, according to NNA.

Hizbullah's official in Sidon Sheikh Zeid al-Daher and his bodyguard who belongs to al-Dirani family were also maimed in the shootout, NNA said.

"Two people were killed and seven injured in festivities between supporters of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and Hizbullah near a Paleostinian refugee camp in Sidon. One of the injured was a representative for Hizbullah for the area," a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Later on Sunday, al-Jadeed television reported that the Taamir Ain al-Hilweh neighborhood was witnessing a cautious calm amid a heavy deployment by army troops.

Afterwards, Miqati said he had requested the army and security agencies take prompt measures to bring the situation under control and arrest those behind the violence.

"We call on everyone to remain calm and execute restraint at this critical and delicate juncture," said the premier.

On Friday, Asir gave a 48-hour deadline to remove all the pictures and banners in Sidon that "contain slogans supportive of Hizbullah and its allies who back the Syrian-Iranian scheme," AFP quoted the Salafist holy man as saying.

"Hizbullah on Sunday removed the pictures and banners from the city, escorted by the Lebanese army, but Asir supporters entered the Taamir Ain al-Hilweh neighborhood near the Ain al-Hilweh Paleostinian refugee camp in Sidon, tearing up a poster of Hizbullah Secretary-General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan NasrallahThe satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... and sparking a fight with sticks that soon erupted into gunfire," AFP reported.

#1
Seem like the great wheel has almost turned full circle...one remember that Lebanese Shiites used to be Israel best allies versus the paleo-simian sunnis...the air bridge between Israel and Teheran for "pharmaceuticals" being so busy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporte_A%C3%A9reo_Rioplatense

The Russkies, supplying the other side, put up a fake beacon and diverted the Canadair into Soviet territory where it was accidentally rammed by a Sukhoi! Now it seem that Syria and Lebanon Christians will get their heads sawed off alongside Hezbollah's filthy dirt encrusted necks...

What's the over/under on the start of infighting? A day, a week, or a month?

[An Nahar] Syrian opposition factions which agreed on Sunday in Qatar to form a new coalition to fight Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadSupressor of the Damascenes... have elected holy man Ahmed al-Khatib to head the bloc, dissidents said.

Khatib, a moderate originally from Damascus...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... who quit Syria three months ago, will lead the National Coalition of Forces of the Syrian Revolution and Opposition, formed after the Syrian National Council agreed to the new group.

Prominent dissident Riad Seif, who had tabled an initiative to unite the opposition, and female opponent Suhair al-Atassi, were elected as two vice presidents of the coalition.

The SNC had come under intense Arab and Western pressure to accept the unity plan amid growing frustration among other dissident groups.

The inked agreement stipulates that the bloc will be open to all factions, and will form a provisional government after gaining international recognition.

It will also support the unification of the revolutionary military councils, and will work for the fall of the regime and to dismantle the security organs

Former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab who defected in August hailed the agreement as "an advanced step towards toppling the regime."

Participants in marathon talks in Qatar said the latest were centered on details of a planned new government-in-waiting, but that the Syrian National Council had now heeded Arab and Western calls to join a new, wider coalition.

Reservations in SNC ranks about what many members saw as a move to sideline it had prompted repeated delays in the Doha talks and mounting frustration among other dissident groups and the opposition's Arab and Western supporters.

But after negotiations that ran into the early hours of Sunday and resumed in the afternoon, opposition officials said a deal on forming a National Coalition of opposition forces had finally been done.

"We signed a 12-point agreement to establish a coalition," said leading dissident Riad Seif, who drew up the U.S.-backed reform proposals on which Sunday's agreement was based.

Another prominent opposition figure, Haitham al-Maleh, said a formal signing ceremony would held at 1700 GMT.

In a copy of the document obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse, the parties "agree to work for the fall of the regime and of all its symbols and pillars," and rule out any dialogue with the regime.

They agree to unify the fighting forces under a supreme military council and to set up a national judicial commission for rebel-held areas.

A provisional government would be formed after the coalition gains international recognition, and a transitional government formed after the regime has fallen.

The deal came after the SNC, which had formerly been seen as the main representative of the opposition, heeded Arab and Western pressure to agree to a new structure embracing groups that had been unwilling to join its ranks.

Former prime minister Riad Hijab, who fled to neighboring Jordan in August in the highest-ranking defection from Assad's government, hailed the agreement as "an advanced step towards toppling the regime."

[An Nahar] Syrian warplanes pounded an eastern town on the border with Iraq on Sunday as firefights raged around an army barracks in the northeastern town of Ras al-Ain near Turkey, a watchdog said.

Troops also launched a pre-dawn bombardment of rebel lines near Damascus...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy..., after 121 people were reported killed nationwide on Saturday.

Northeast of the capital, festivities erupted around Irbin as the army shelled the rebel stronghold and nearby Mesraba, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In eastern Syria, the watchdog said, two non-combatants were killed in air raids on the town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border while Deir Ezzor city in the same province also came under tank fire.

Near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, troops were seen headed towards Bir Ajam in the demilitarized zone, several days after Israel complained to the United Nations...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... about the presence of Syrian tanks in the village.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of opposition activists on the ground, reported regime artillery and tank fire on Bir Ajam and the nearby village of Bariqeh.

Israel issued a terse warning on Friday after three mortar rounds struck the Golan the day before, the latest in a string of "spillover" incidents into the Israeli side of the ceasefire line.

In the northwest province of Idlib on Sunday, the Observatory reported shelling on the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, nearby Maarshmisha village and Idlib city.

The army earlier retook a stretch of the Damascus-Aleppo...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... highway in Idlib used for transporting reinforcements, but has failed to retake Maaret al-Numan.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and medics in civilian and military hospitals, also reported fresh festivities on Sunday near Ras al-Ain on the Turkish border in Hasakeh province.

A military source in the area said rebels had been closing in on the army barracks in Asfar Nakjar village, east of Ras al-Ain, for the past 48 hours.

"We are well armed and the rebels haven't been able to break through. Our reinforcements are on the way," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman confirmed that rebels had surrounded the large barracks, which the army was using to bombard Ras al-Ain.

The mainly Kurdish province has seen heavy fighting... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting... in the past few days, with 46 combatants killed when the opposition seized Ras al-Ain on Friday.

The Observatory on Saturday reported that Kurdish residents backed by militia from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) had taken control of three towns near the border with Turkey after convincing pro-government forces to leave.

The PYD has links with Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The watchdog said residents feared a repeat of the violence that saw 9,000 Syrians flee to Turkey in 24 hours.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.